Why a couple working in tech ditched their San Francisco condo for an Airstream trailer

Nancy Broden and Michael Fortson. Courtesy of Michael Fortson Michael Fortson and Nancy Broden were ready for a break from San Francisco.

Both had found successful careers in tech — Fortson as a developer for apps like Tophatter, Sounder, and Qik, and Broden as a veteran designer at Twitter.

They owned a two-bedroom condo near AT&T Park, which they had bought in 2007, at the peak of the housing crisis.

"We had a mortgage payment that was just unbelievable," Broden said. "We knew that we were ready to sell, but we also knew that we weren't ready to buy."

In July of 2014, they sold their condo and moved into a rented in-law apartment in Tiburon, California. The move required that they downsize their belongings.

"It's really a cathartic thing to get rid of most of your stuff," Fortson said.

Broden added: "We discovered we don't need a lot of the kitchen stuff."

After a few months in Tiburon, they decided to buy an Airstream trailer, where they moved full-time in October.

Economically, it was a huge improvement. Mortgage payments cost the couple only $495 a month, about $1,500 a month if you include parking and insurance fees.

"As you might imagine, that's a small fraction — well under a quarter — of what it cost us to live in our condo in downtown San Francisco," Broden said.

The couple parks their Airstream in Olema, California. Courtesy of Michael Fortson and Nancy Broden

Moving into the Airstream gave the couple the chance to cut the anchor for a while, to explore the West without having to commit to one particular place.

"We like the coast, and we like the mountains" Broden said. "The Airstream was a good way to try it all out."

"The backyard is wherever you want to stop," Fortson said.

It was also an opportunity to get out of the tech-saturated culture of San Francisco for a spell. Broden and Fortson first moved to the city in the early 2000s, just before the dot-com bubble burst.

"It can wear on you a little bit. At every coffeeshop you hear the same conversation," Broden said. "We actually spend more time together now. We interact more with the people around us, in the campgrounds we stop in ... I like to see a bit more diversity."